Nothing Unusual
by Catnip-Packet
Summary: Come on, Torn..admit it. You've got feelings for Ashelin. Rated T for safety.


_I don't believe that I've written a Jak and Daxter fanfic before. I don't even have any stories hidden away that I haven't posted yet. I just haven't ever written anything. Besides writing out cut scenes, but I always do that and it hardly counts._

_A plot bunny has jumped into my lap and wants to be petted. It's so fluffy it's shedding all over me. _

_A warning: Torn might be a little out of character. This is my first time writing for him, so as you can imagine, I am rusty._

_Another warning: I only have the first two games (I KNOW, IT'S SAD), although Jak X will be arriving HOPEFULLY soon, so if something isn't accurate, it's because I missed Jak 3 and I have no idea what scandalous events occurred in there (although I do happen to know that Jak went and kissed someone he shouldn't have…bad Jak! BAD Jak!)._

_This author's note is getting really long and annoying, so I'm gonna stop right here. Oh, and this story takes place really soon after Jak X ended (with the JxK kiss and all that good stuff). They're still at that bar…a lot of people are calling it the Bloody Hook so I'm just going to assume that's what it's called._

_FLUFFINESS…WHY AM I ALWAYS LIKE THAT?_

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><p>The celebrating went on for hours. Even though there was nothing much to do except talk about how happy they were to be alive, and how it was about time that Jak and Keira had gotten together, somehow everybody was managing to find other things to talk about. After half an hour or so, Sig, Pecker, and Samos had claimed a table and were in a heated discussion about some random thing, Torn, Jak, and Daxter had ended up at a table at one end of the place, and Keira and Ashelin were at the other end. Occasionally, Keira would glance over at them and giggle before turning back to talk to Ashelin again.<p>

Jak hadn't been himself ever since he and Keira had kissed. Since then, he had been grinning like an idiot, stumbling over his words, and staring off into the distance for several minutes before jerking back to reality with a lot of 'What? Were you saying something?' Daxter thought this was hilarious (although maybe he wouldn't have, had he not consumed a little too much alcohol that night), but Torn found it distracting. The girls were at the other end of the bar, Sig, Samos, and Pecker were at a table deep in conversation, and Daxter was completely stoned. The only person available for conversation was Jak, and if he kept spacing out because of Keira, Torn wasn't sure what he should do with his time. It was obvious that no one was going home soon.

"And if he—Jak, are you listening?"

Jak snapped to attention. "Huh? Oh, sorry, Torn, my mind's just elsewhere tonight…" Torn noticed Jak's eyes flickering over to where Keira sat with Ashelin. Torn rolled his eyes and sighed. Jak shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault."

"Yeah…it kinda is."

Jak jabbed a finger at him. "Yeah well I challenge _you_ to act like nothing unusual has happened after you kiss Ashelin."

Torn held up his hands in surprise. "Whoa, hold up, who said anything about Ashelin?"

Jak folded his arms in front of him. "Come on, Torn, don't try and deny that you and Ashelin have feelings for each other. Because you _do_."

"Yeah, _Torrrn_," slurred Daxter, choosing this opportune moment to stumble across the table between them, an empty bottle in his hand, "Ain't it obvious that th'r's _somethin' goin' on_ between you an' her?"

"I don't need you to join the conversation, rat," Torn muttered, as Daxter stumbled again and fell down in front of him. "And there's nothing going on between us, you can guarantee that." Unfortunately, this was mostly true. Apart from holding hands once or twice and a few terms of endearment like 'sweetheart', nothing was happening.

"Eh, but don't'cha wish, hah?" Daxter grinned lopsidedly before promptly passing out.

Torn stared at Daxter in disgust for a few seconds before feeling Jak's eyes on him and looking up. "What?"

"Is he right?" Jak said, leaning forward slightly.

"About what?" Torn asked uneasily, not liking the direction their conversation had taken.

"About wishing there was something going on between you and Ashelin," Jak said, almost eagerly. Daxter mumbled something in this sleep that sounded like 'muffins'.

Torn sighed. Did he wish he and Ashelin were together? They had held hands on more than one occasion, and he had even been so bold as to call her 'sweetheart' once _in public_, but never had they kissed or even hugged. Neither of them had tried to take their 'relationship' further, and neither of them showed any agitation over the subject, either.

Having been in the Guard for most of his life and then running the Underground Movement for a few years after that, Torn really had had no time for any type of romance. He wouldn't deny that he _had_ flirted with the odd girl or two, but he had felt no real attraction to them. He really had only done it because it was one of the things he could do with Erol that wasn't too destructive. Hard to believe back then he and Erol had been friends…

But Torn really couldn't deny that deep down, he really did wish Ashelin was more than just his friend. He wanted to be able to kiss her just because he _could_. There was no doubt in his mind that Jak now had that privilege with Keira and he was going to be quite abusing it for the next few days.

"Well…" he started off cautiously, wondering how much Jak would be able to get out of him. "She's a really nice woman and all, and…" He knit his brow. "What are you suggesting? That I want to have a 'moment' with her just like the one you had with Keira ten minutes ago?" After a split second, he had an idea and added, "Remember that?"

At the mention of said moment—or it could have been the very first kiss; for the past half hour before the girls went off on their own, Jak and Keira had been sneaking in so many quick kisses that both Jak and Torn had lost track—Jak's eyes momentarily glazed over and a dreamy smile drifted onto his face. "Mmm…"

Torn took a sip of his drink, glad that for the moment the question had been avoided. He really wasn't ready to admit this. Actually, the only person he would feel _slightly_ comfortable telling it to was Tess, and of course she wasn't here. There was something about that girl that made her extremely easy to talk to. Maybe because she was so bubbly and cheerful all the time. She had a way of getting information out of people without giving any away. And she was _really_ good at keeping secrets. He had worked with her long enough to know that.

When he looked up at Jak again, he was annoyed to see that the man's eyes weren't glazed over anymore, and he was watching Torn again. "_What_?" Torn snapped.

"Come on," Jak grinned. "Admit it."

"There's nothing to admit," Torn insisted, after a very lengthy pause.

Jak raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? At least tell me you think she's pretty."

Torn threw up his hands. "Okay!" he said, louder than he had intended, "I think she's hot! Happy now?" Across the room, Keira whispered something to Ashelin, and both of them stood up and started toward the men.

Jak smiled and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. "Yes."

"I mean, it's not like I could kiss her _even if I wanted _to…she'd probably kill me—" Keira and Ashelin appeared next to the table so suddenly that the ex-Krimson guard almost jumped. "Hi, Torn," Keira greeted him with a smile. She turned the smile into a more seductive one and aimed it at Jak. "Hi, Jak."

Jak looked up and his goofy grin returned. "Keira! Hi! We were just talking about y—"

Torn kicked him hard under the table. "_I_ was just talking about you," Jak corrected himself. "Or rather, we were actually…I mean…"

Keira giggled and slid into the seat next to him, kissing him on the cheek. "You're so cute when you stutter like that." He expression turned a bit more serious. "You knew we could hear you, couldn't you?" she said in an undertone, her bright green eyes flickering over to Ashelin for a split second.

Jak sounded surprised when he replied but didn't look it. "Really?"

Torn gritted his teeth. Easy for _him_ to say. He was about to make a biting retort when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey there, tough guy," came Ashelin's amused voice. "Care to have a little talk?"

Torn nervously looked up at her and felt an unfamiliar sensation in his stomach. Strangely enough, it felt good. "Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes." Ashelin grabbed his arm and dragged him off to a secluded corner of the bar with her. "We'll just be a minute," she called back to the others, who cheerfully waved, not looking too concerned about their absence.

Ashelin stopped walking and looked at Torn. "So."

Torn looked back. "So what?" He couldn't help but notice what a pretty shade of green her eyes were. His eyes involuntarily began to travel down the rest of her body, but before he had gone past her neck, she spoke again and dragged his eyes back to hers.

"Everything you were saying about us," Ashelin said matter-of-factly, not sounding annoyed at all. "or rather, me. Keira and I were listening to the whole thing. It was…_interesting_." Added emphasis was put on 'interesting'.

Torn's face went from pale to pink. "Uh…it…was?" _Come on, Torn, that's the best thing you can come up with?_

Ashelin's face took on a devious smirk. "Do you wanna take that challenge Jak proposed?"

Torn's mind drew a blank as he searched his memory of his conversation with Jak. "What was that again?" _What's wrong with you?_

"I believe he said 'I challenge _you_ to act like nothing unusual has happened after you kiss Ashelin'," Ashelin said smoothly.

Torn suddenly felt very anxious. "You…want…I mean, I should—" _God, why are you stuttering so much?_

Ashelin suddenly stood up very straight and pointed at him, looking every bit as regal as she was. "I _command_ you to shut up and stay still." Ever since she had become Haven City's new governor, Ashelin had taken great joy in commanding him everywhere, and today was no exception. Torn, remembering what happened the first (and last) time he had tried to resist her commands, quickly stopped talking and looked at her questioningly, wondering if she was actually going to do what he thought she was going to do. That weird feeling in his stomach was growing.

Ashelin put her hands behind her back and walked in a slow circle around him. "Thank you for your cooperation, Commander."

"The name's kind of ironic right now, don't you think?" Torn muttered, unable to keep the sentence down.

Ashelin chuckled a bit at his words, stopped in front of him, and with absolutely no warning at all, cupped his face in her hands and kissed him full on the mouth.

Torn's mind went blank. All sound died out. The room they were in disappeared. He didn't know whether to kiss her back or stand still, and ultimately standing still won out. He vaguely noticed that the weird feeling in his stomach had increased tenfold. He suddenly had an overwhelming desire to pull her as close as possible and kiss her with all the passion he could gather. Would that be pushing it? He didn't even know how to kiss properly. Oh well. He couldn't move, anyway.

After a few seconds, Ashelin pulled away and stared at him questioningly. "Well?"

"Well what?" Torn tried to say, but no sound came out.

"Did Jak win?" Ashelin asked, her eyes twinkling. Ashelin's eyes _never_ twinkled.

Torn realized he had been holding his breath, and let it all out in a long sigh. "You know what's a relief?"

"What's a relief?"

"Now I know I can do this without the possibility of getting killed." Torn leaned forward and happily pressed his lips to hers again, his hand moving to her back to pull her against him and the other holding her wrist to keep her hand on his face. Ashelin closed her eyes again and responded with more enthusiasm, her tongue lightly nudging Torn's. Was he doing it right? He must be…it felt so good…

A loud wolf-whistle brought the couple back to reality, accompanied by an obnoxious, "About _time_!"

Reluctantly, Torn pulled himself away and turned to see Jak, Keira, and Daxter all grinning at them. Keira winked, and Jak shot him two thumbs up. Daxter simply grinned. Torn could only imagine the evil things whirling through the ottsel's mind. He jabbed a finger in Daxter's direction. "I thought you were unconscious!"

Daxter grinned and lazily twirled an empty bottle around in his fingers. "Only had one tonight, Tattooed Wonder. It's funny how much you can overhear when you're 'passed out'." So he had been faking. Stupid ottsel.

Ashelin gave Torn a quick kiss and sauntered back to Keira, shooting him a wink over her shoulder and mouthing, 'To be continued'. Keira stood up and both girls retreated back to their table, Ashelin uncharacteristically giggly. Torn, feeling slightly dizzy and wondering if this meant he now had the same privilege as Jak, sat back down in his seat and stared at a spot on the wall somewhere behind Jak, his mind a whirl.

"So," Jak said finally, after waiting a few seconds, "Did I win?"

Torn was silent.

Jak and Daxter exchanged smirks. "Torn?"

Torn blinked and looked at him. "Huh? …sorry, did you say something?"

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><p><em>I hope y'all appreciate how hard I worked on this. I spent a good ten minutes trying to come up with an idea that wasn't <em>too_ pointless, and about three hours writing and editing it. I don't think any other fanfic of mine (with the exception of HTTYD) has received this much attention, and I am very proud. I HAVE PRODUCED A TORN/ASHELIN STORY! My first Jak and Daxter fic, and it wasn't even about Jak and Keira. Wow, Catnip. How odd of you._

_Speaking of Catnip, did you know that my local pet shop doesn't sell catnip packets anymore? D: It is a very good thing that they sold them back when I was trying to think of a name. If that old raggedy thing hadn't been lying on the floor beside the computer when I was signing up, my name would probably be something like 'Ratlover' because of my unnatural love for rats. One day I will be the proud owner of one. Yes, I was actually considering that name. Amazingly, it was taken._


End file.
